Poem of the Week: Show Some Respect, Creeps!

Hello, readers.

Today’s poem isn’t quite the one that I was looking forward to sharing today, but after reading about the passing this past Wednesday of Eldridge Wayne Coleman—best known to professional wrestling fans and insiders as “Superstar” Billy Graham—I couldn’t help but offer my condolences to his widow Valerie Irwin, his children Joey and Capella Graham, and the rest of his family and friends as well as all his fans. I’m sure that not everyone has taken kindly to the guy for one reason or another (as is true with celebrities and other public figures in general, if not humanity as a whole) for some of the remarks he’s made in the not-too-distant past prior to succumbing to an ear infection in January that eventually spread to his ear bones and skull and the consequential complications he suffered from acute kidney failure, congestive heart failure, lung problems, diabetes, and hearing loss among other health complications. Nevertheless, the man made a profound mark in the professional wrestling industry during the 1970s and 80s and was particularly influential upon the likes of such similarly legendary performers as Hulk Hogan, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Austin Idol, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner. Granted, my days as a wrestling fan may be over, but as someone who used to enjoy the art for what it was once upon a time and what it could one day be again with the right booking and presentation, I’d still like to say rest in peace to Superstar and thank him for his contributions to this oft-mocked yet nevertheless time-honored form of entertainment.

That said, while I much rather would have posted a poem honoring the fellow, what struck me more than Superstar’s passing was the disparagement in the comments section of the article’s MSN.com feed toward not only him, but to all pro wrestlers and to wrestling in general. I feel foolish, too, for neglecting to copy the article’s link so that you folks could read for yourselves the rude, snide, callous, childish, and condescending remarks that these keyboard warriors have made. Then again, maybe it’s for the better that I haven’t included said link here for fear that my doing so might further fuel the flame war that these loudmouths have obviously tried to instigate, and this pre-poem editorial that I’m writing as we speak is already a form of troll-feeding as matters stand, which I otherwise know better than to do. At the same time, though, I can’t help but vent about these scumbags and the unwarranted venom they’ve spewed, for whether they meant what they’ve said or are only egging wrestling fans on, the fact is that the circumstances don’t warrant it in the slightest. On one hand are those who called wrestling “nonsense,” a “clown show,” “theater of the absurd,” a “stupid soap opera,” “trash,” and a “total farce” and even equating it to The Jerry Springer Show, of all things. Yes, WWE figurehead Vince McMahon had Springer on WWE Television a couple of times prior to his demise, but really? All of wrestling being on the same level as Springer’s infamous trainwreck of a “talk show?” Then again, on the other hand are those who’ve accused professional wrestlers of being “phony athletes” and “overrated stuntmen and stuntwomen” who “didn’t [don’t] have enough talent to go to Hollywood” when I bet that the majority of these windbags could never outperform even the least impressive in-ring workers on their worst days over the course of the three hundred-plus-day schedule that many a wrestler has to work while on the road away from his, her, or their family. Heck, I’m willing to bet that these losers wouldn’t even last their first day or wrestling school without crying like the glorified babies they ultimately are. One poster even claimed that wrestling is “adored by the Trump cult followers” simply because McMahon has long been friends with former U.S. President Donald Trump and has featured him on WWE programming and had him inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame. Another blowhard, meanwhile, has accused Americans specifically of believing that pro wrestling is real despite the general public having known for decades that the art form is, in fact, a work—“sports theater,” if you’d rather—rather than a genuine, full-fledged sport. Others still had the gall to announce that they weren’t going to miss Graham with one person in particular claiming that he/she/they was “happy” about the man’s death. If that last remark doesn’t show just how heartless and classless this poster particularly was in addition to everyone else who was flooding the comments section with such unsolicited malice, then I don’t know what to tell you. At any rate, these arrogant, mean-spirited brats made their stance on the business crystal clear for the entire world to read, much to my disgust and exasperation…and not even as a former wrestling fan, either, but purely as a human being.

Let me make this real to you, people: Back when I first started watching pro wrestling, few people, if any at all, bothered inquiring about whether it was real or not. Maybe we should have asked ourselves such a question, given the gimmicks that some of the wrestlers sported at the time from the “Ugandan Giant” Kamala, the Road Warriors, and George “The Animal” Steele to the kayfabe undead Undertaker and his demonic brother Kane to all the various characters in between from Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, among other promotions of the era. Even after the revelation of wrestling being a stage production came to light, however, not only did fans of the art come to accept it, but there was even a short boom period in 1997 to 2001 that many a wrestling fan still holds dear to this day merely because of the characters who drew folks in to come see each promotion’s events. Sadly, the wrestling world has yet to capture that same spark that had made it so special back in the 1980s and ‘90s, which admittedly wasn’t a flawless era by any means, but that didn’t stop people of all kinds from watching the shows and supporting the business. Personal demographics made very little difference, too, when it came to the people who filled whatever arena a given wrestling show was taking place. Age, race, gender, religion, political affiliation, sexual preference, occupation, financial income—none of that made any difference when it came to who watched wrestling back then. We all arrived at the shows, saw what the promotions had to offer us, rooted for our favorite wrestlers to triumph over their opponents, and enjoyed whatever action we saw. The more profound the characters, the stronger the booking, and the fiercer the in-ring action, the more we loved the show, too, and the likelier we would be to return, regardless of what the non-fans thought of us or our enthusiasm for this given brand of “sports entertainment.” Alas, because the industry still hasn’t recovered from the “Great Wrestling Crash” of ‘01—much to my own chagrin, at the very least—and continues to wax and wane in quality without ever attaining (and maintaining) such a degree of excitement for reasons X, Y, and Z, it’s become so much easier for the denigrators of pro wrestling to mock it, calling it various insults from a “redneck sport” (I’m looking at you, YouTuber Super Bunnyhop.) to “homoerotic” (“DanB,” also from YouTube) and even calling its participants “hairless apes,” among other infantile pejoratives.

The fact remains, readers, that we all have our likes and dislikes in life, and just because certain people share a common interest or hobby that we don’t care for or about doesn’t automatically give any of us the right to bash them for it. It certainly doesn’t give us the right to verbally urinate, defecate, or vomit on someone, either, for being a participant in such a business. After all, even if not everyone loved “Superstar” Billy Graham while he was alive, he wasn’t someone who was in the same moral vein as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Charlie Manson, John Wayne Gacy, etcetera, nor does he deserve to have his death celebrated or his choice of vocation trashed by a bunch of rotten apples who want to use his status as a pro wrestling legend to excrete all over him and the artform. Besides, what’s wrestling to these jerks, anyway? How has it affected their lives? Because as far as I’m concerned, pro wrestling is little more than an easy target for non-fans to attack chiefly because they don’t understand how it can be as popular as it is, given its confessedly fabricated nature. Throw in the inability of the wrestling business to regain and keep the ground it lost once upon a time, and that only makes it all the easier for outsiders to defame and rail against. It’s a shame, too, because it’s bad enough already that the decent people of the world who still enjoy and respect the art end up having to put up with the patronizing snobs, temperamental lunatics, thin-skinned fanboys and fangirls, posturing pseudo-alphas, whiny smarks, even whinier “anti-smarks,” and other idiots who undeniably still corrupt the fandom to which they belong and further give it a bad look. They shouldn’t have to additionally deal with those who dislike wrestling constantly barraging it and them with constant disdain and ridicule for whatever excuse fuels the latter’s unsolicited scoffing. After all, I’m not much into comic books, so why should I waste my time harassing anyone who enjoys them or any media based on a property owned by Marvel, DC, or any other comic book publisher when I can instead spend my energy doing something infinitely more productive? The same goes for anime, which I don’t even pay attention to in the first place. What sense is there especially in me shaming aficionados of Japanese animation for their interest when I can instead focus on what I do care about? Such is what I’d expect those who don’t care about or for pro wrestling would do. Don’t like it? Fine. Guess what, then: Either be civil when talking about it, or keep your opinion to yourself—especially when a beloved wrestler like “Superstar” Billy Graham passes away from sepsis and multiple organ failure well over a decade after his storied steroid abuse.

Seriously, folks, if only we could be more candid and less hostile when expressing our likes and dislikes on the Internet—and, for that matter, in the real world—then society would be that much more pleasant. To the people who’ve been mocking “Superstar” Billy Graham and professional wrestling in general shortly after his death, I say grow up, get off and stay off the ‘Net, and get a real hobby. Your childishness was and still is completely inexcusable, regardless of your motivation behind it, and I hope MSN.com bans your MSN accounts for abusing your privileges with their website’s services, as the world needs fewer soulless stinkpots like you shamelessly wearing your puerility on your sleeves for the entire planet to see. To Superstar’s fans and loved ones, in contrast, all I’ll say is that my prayers are with you. Finally, to Billy Graham himself—or, if you’d rather, Eldridge Wayne Coleman—rest in peace, and thank you for the memories.

Also, for those of you who are still interested in reading today’s poem, feel free to carry on down below, and thank you for your time.

Regards,

Dustin M. Weber

*****

Show Some Respect, Creeps!
May 18, 2023

A man died this week. Show some respect, creeps!
Hate wrestling? Keep your mouths shut and move on.
Get off your high horses and go to sleep.

For months, Eldridge Coleman’s had trouble deep,
No thanks to health ailments and now’s passed on.
A man died this week. Show some respect, creeps!

An icon for many who, today, weep.
From all walks of life, somber is their song.
Get off your high horses and go to sleep.

Guess who rides in, though, to mock the art (Creeps!)
And claim that all in it are in the wrong.
A man died this week. Show some respect, creeps!

“Stuntmen,” “no talent,” “phony”…disdain deep
From the mouths of spiteful, heartless morons…
Get off your high horses and go to sleep.

Spare the world your spleen. Let the mournful weep
And the man you mindlessly mock pass on.
A man died this week. Show some respect, creeps!
Get off your high horses and go to sleep.

*****

The images used in this post (c) 2023 POST Wrestling and Gerweck.net. The comments and poem, however, are the author’s own.

Author Pages: Smashwords.com
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Poem of the Week: Confusion and Hostility

Confusion and Hostility
April 19, 2023

We’re living in a land of confusion, knowing not what to believe,
What with so many people in power going out of their way to deceive
The common soul with twisted tales of what’s going on in the world,
Leaving it up to us to determine just how the future will unfurl
And what we can do to make it brighter for generations yet unborn,
For I don’t know about you folks, but I’d rather not face another morn
Where I hear about some higher power toying with what we all can enjoy
To satisfy the selfish attitudes and whims of petty girls and boys
Who don’t want to share truth or wisdom with anyone else on the globe,
Nor do I care to see more tempers flare or wait for more heads to explode
Between perfect strangers over news stories that call for civil conversation.
Heaven knows we’ve had more of that insanity spreading ‘cross the nation
Than I dare to begin discussing—bits ‘bout people, colors, and history
That we’ve sorted through time and again over decades, hence the mystery
Of why we haven’t agreed yet to treat people like people, no matter
Their age, skin, gender, et cetera. Oh, and how our egos get fatter
Every time some random soul airs a grievance ‘bout the world growing dumber
With the use and abuse of certain terms and how our minds have grown number
With each passing day and each passing use of such terms by lazy minds
Who scream and stamp ‘round like ill-mannered tykes when others call out their ‘hinds,
Urging them to expand their vocabulary and their knowledge along with it!
Alas, these brats refuse to do just that, relying instead on hissy fits,
Name-calling, and other insults to protect themselves from “grammar Nazis”
From their “infringement” on their “right” to sound like every other zombie. Please!
Skies forbid we expect each other anymore to become better than what we are,
Especially mentally in the wake of illiteracy’s ever-growing scar
Across the face of humanity. Oh, how self-entitlement is now strong,
Right along with our blind, shameless hostility! Heavens, where did we go wrong?
One’d think that in the age of the Internet, which has brought us together,
We’d learn to at least tolerate those unlike us, no matter the weather.
Alas, with so many witless cowards hiding behind their computer screens
Spewing words of hatred and ignorance—words they may or may not mean,
Yet say either way to stir the pot and rile up wise and foolish alike—
I doubt I’ll ever see in my lifetime what Xanadu might be like.
I therefore don’t contribute to such hate other than to call it out
And show those who spread it from any direction what it’s all about
And how it hurts others in the long run and cripples at large the nation,
Then do what else I can to heal the world in my real-life station,
For corny though it may sound, only through spreading kindness and wisdom
Can we save this planet from further becoming the hellhole it’s become—
Not oppressing each other with our selfish wrath every chance we get,
But by stepping back, thinking, learning, and doing all we can to yet
Bring about a brighter age than today, for really, how can things get worse?
How much further on this hellbound planet can we suffer the curse
We’ve brought upon ourselves through our words and deeds? Actually, spare me
Any kind of answer, for I’d rather not think just how much worse things can be,
As all I want now in this world of ours is an end to the madness at last
And a chance to leave all this hatred and selfishness buried in the past.
I may not believe in golden ages at all—particularly at my age—
But if we can usher in the next best thing and finally turn a new page,
It’ll be one step forward to truly being enlightened as we ought to be
And this confusion that haunts us all yet will cease finally.

*****

Author Pages: Smashwords.com
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Poem of the Week: Get Your Act Together!

Get Your Act Together!
October 1, 2022

Get you act together for once, Mr. or Ms. Moderator!
Stop giving power to trolls, cyberbullies, and mindless “haters”—
Senseless sots who haven’t the heart to contribute anything of worth,
Instead electing to sit at their computers on their rear girth
And type spiteful, hateful trash at and about folks daily sans pause,
Thinking that their doing so makes them more than rebels without cause.
They’re not cute, clever, funny, or tough in any way, shape, or form,
But heartless children whose development is well below the norm—
Even in a world like ours where selfishness rules day in, day out.
In fact, if I knew no better, I’d swear that all they’re about—
Their very reason for existing in the first place—is to annoy,
Harass, and hurt others like ill-mannered little girls and boys
Whose parents and teachers alike have failed to teach them right from wrong
And who have no talents other than vexing others through word, deed, and song
For no other goal than their own amusement, perverts that they are,
Not caring about what harm they cause with their crap or what kind of scar
They might leave in the wake of their wickedness so profound and untamed,
And the fact that they get away with doing so within your domain
Because you do naught about it makes me sick to the pit of my soul.
Would you raise your own kids to act so brazenly to young and old?
Was it okay by your own parents if you took shots at everyone
And everything you loathed in life for the sole sake of “having fun?”
Because that’s not for me on any level, so excuse the standards I bare
As well as my dismissing all your excuses for not giving a care.
After all, I live by the belief of actions and consequences,
Where people who morally step out of line suffer fitting sentences.
Physical society usually operates under such a rule,
And why you can’t enforce it yourself on your own “turf” against the fools
Who refuse to behave with any sense and instead run amok
Spreading lies, spewing death threats, and such makes me think you’re a schmuck
As clueless and spineless as a winter night is cold and long, my friend,
Oblivious to the damage these brats are doing to your site in the end
And/or too gutless to do anything to put them in their place,
Should you carry on sitting by on the sidelines and let them further disgrace
What you’ve been running for years, hence why I’m venting via this verse
And imploring you to do something to save face in the wake of this curse.
Don’t let glorified parasites take control of what you hold so dear.
Lay down the law, install in them all some healthy respect and fear,
And kick them to the curb for their discrepancies, for the good folks
On your site could never get away with being such bitter, blightsome blokes
And commit the atrocities the trolls do, yet the trolls are still having fun,
Especially since they know you’ll do nothing to send them on the run.
I’m not holding my breath, though, for I know better than to expect
Inert forces to suddenly become active, for it hasn’t happened yet,
Even though I’d love to be proven wrong here and see justice rear its head
And punish the wicked for their misdeeds, but hey…let’s put this to bed.
Bottom line, Mr. or Ms. Moderator: Get your act together
Before the inmates further run your asylum straight into stormier weather
And further make your forum a living hell for people who deserve and demand
More than to put up with nonsense of any kind that might come close at hand.

*****

Author Pages: Smashwords.com
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Bonus Poem of the Week: A Fool Picks Fights

A Fool Picks Fights
September 6, 2021

A fool picks fights. A wise man walks away,
Knowing his masculinity within
With no need to act “macho” any day,
Standing tall even when faced with fools’ sins.
Pejoratives, profanity, bald lies…
All the tools of a weak, insecure boy—
The kind of weakness that needs not trained eyes
Or ears to define, but should be destroyed,
Should said boy grow up one day to become
The kind of man who’ll inherit the world
And better change it before it succumbs
To the same foolishness that’s long unfurled,
For only the strong we can trust to save
Humankind ‘fore we all become depraved.

*****

Author Pages: Smashwords.com
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Bonus Poem of the Week: Idle Minds

Idle Minds
August 2, 2021

This world is riddled with fools
With minds dull and tempers uncool
Posting here and there
Angry thoughts without care
As they sit at their desks and drool

At their keyboards, the ill-mannered slobs.
Of common sense their minds are robbed
As they seek to cause spats,
Bashing this and that
While their saliva collects in globs

On their desktops from their gaping maws
And they type their hate away sans pause
In arguments so dumb,
They’ll make one’s mind grow numb,
Should one read them and their logic flaws.

So easy are they to prove wrong,
Should one combat their nonsense head-on,
But then they change the rules
To make their foes the fools,
Forever singing their wretched songs,

For in their heads, they’re always right,
And it matters not who comes to fight
Them on what they believe,
For they’ll gasp and heave
Their idiocy each day and night,

Spewing names and insults of all kinds,
Their words making little reason or rhyme,
Denouncing all detractors
And trashing all reactors
For succumbing to their lies unkind.

It makes me roll my eyes each time
And wonder sadly, friends of mine,
‘Bout just what kind of strife
One’s dealt with in life
To succumb to sitting on one’s ‘hind

And waste one’s time on such childishness,
Typing ‘way with such little finesse
And thought in one’s head.
Are these punks just braindead?
‘Cause that’s the adjective that best

Describes them, according to me,
And I wonder, “Can’t any action be
Taken ‘gainst these slobs
Whose only clear jobs
Are causing grief for you and me?

Won’t their parents get off their asses
To see their children’s deeds so classless
Cluttering cyberspace
For all the human race
And punish them for being such asses?

Why should the rest of us put up with
The poor parenting of these twits
And their kids, dull and rude
With their mindless attitudes,
Constantly throwing hissy fits?”

Bottom line, parents, let me be free:
Teach your kids some decency.
Put some morals in their heads
So that when we’re long dead,
In one piece Planet Earth will still be.

Get them ‘way from their screens for a time
And show them the outside, friends of mine,
‘Fore ill-mannered zombies
They’ll furthermore be,
Which we’ve too much now of such a kind.

Stop allowing stupidity
And self-entitlement to be
Driving forces behind
Your children’s states of mind.
We’ve ‘nough brats like that for all to see,

And if forward we’re to move now,
We’ve got to be firm—and how—
In showing discipline,
For that’s the way to win
Our future, what with how things are now,

For our world’s one that’s lost its brain
And has gone, in many ways, insane,
And to get back on track,
We must get its brain back
Piece by piece ‘fore its ‘gain torn in twain.

*****

Author Pages: Smashwords.com
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